Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation

Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation (Pace) is a charitable organization in England and Wales that works with parents of children who have been, or are at risk of being, sexually exploited. The charity was founded in 1996 as the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping (CROP) by Irene Ivison and other affected parents following the murder of Ivison's 17-year-old daughter Fiona in Doncaster.[1]

Irene Ivison was born in Oxford on March 5, 1946, and died after complications from a routine operation on October 20, 2000.[4]

From her daughter's murder in 1993 until her own death in 2000, Ivison campaigned along with other parents to bring the issue of pimping to wider attention.[4][5][6] Ivison published a book about her daughter in 1997 called Fiona’s Story, recounting how she read of her daughter’s death in the newspaper.[7]

For her work, Ivison was nominated for the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize just three days prior to her death.[8]

Pace provides parent support workers to parents with children who are, or are vulnerable to, child sexual exploitation by perpetrators external to the family. Pace also provides training to other professionals on how child sexual exploitation affects the whole family and works as an advocate on behalf of parents to influence policy and raise awareness.

Pace has produced several publications and research papers over the years and has worked closely with the BBC on the production of special reports relating to child sexual exploitation, including a BBC Panorama episode called "Teenage Sex for Sale".[9]

From its early days, Pace has had an impact on policy. Irene Ivison was consulted and helped draft the National Plan to Prevent Sexual Exploitation of Children and the Sexual Offences Review. Ivison also took up a legal challenge over what she argued was a failure on the part of police and social services to protect Fiona, which went to the European Court of Human Rights and was taken up by her other daughter, Rebecca, after her death.[2][10] The case, Ivison v. UK, was ultimately ruled as inadmissible with the Court concluding that, “there has been no failure by the authorities in this case to respect the family and private life of Fiona and her mother.”[2]

Pace has been active in providing input to consultations led by the Department for Education and the Home Office and has seen an impact in the way in which guidance references support for families. Hilary Willmer, a Pace founding member and current trustee, said in respect to a 2012 DfE report: "CROP particularly welcomes the recognition that whole families suffer the devastating consequences of child sexual exploitation and need support. CROP hopes that there will also be recognition of the significant positive potential of many parents to be included as active partners in the safeguarding of children."[11]